Across West Virginia, teachers and staff are learning their jobs have been cut due to dire school finances. While reduction in force letters are going out, lawmakers haven’t signed off on changing the school funding formula for next year that could give more money to counties.
Tracy Moss, 36, was surprised in February to learn her full-time job as a librarian at a small, rural school in Cedar Grove, West Virginia, had been slashed to part time because of funding issues in Kanawha County Schools. As a mom, the part-time job won’t work with her kids’ schedules, so she’ll have to move on.
She loves guiding children to books that reflect their interests. Come next school year, Moss said students at her school “will lose access to the library five days a week.”
“I’m devastated. I love my library. I hate that kids won’t be able to access me or their library all the time,” Moss said. “There are kids that live up there who do not have transportation. Seeing books and getting books at school is their only chance of getting those library books.”
She also works as a reading interventionist in the school and coaches the elementary school’s award-winning Robotics team, the “Bot Squad.” Now, she fears they’ll lose the team.
Kanawha County anticipates cutting 140 positions due to declining enrollment. Hancock County Schools has been operating 140 positions over its school funding formula allocation; pending cuts there will impact teachers, transportation, kitchen staff and more. In Cabell County, school leaders said they’d wait and see if the Legislature worked on the school funding formula, or they’d have more job cuts; the district is 179 positions over the funding formula.
West Virginia schools are 2,685.92 school personnel positions over formula, according to the state education department. Some counties will use local funds to avoid cutting jobs.
As West Virginia’s population has declined, many public schools have found themselves in financial crises because enrollment is tied to their state funding. Some students have left public schools to use the Hope Scholarship, the state’s education voucher program. More than 70 public schools have closed across the state since 2019.
While public schools are set to receive a lion’s share of state funding, lawmakers haven’t moved GOP-backed bills that would make an immediate adjustment to the state’s school funding formula to make up for declining enrollment and expensive special education services. The measures would infuse millions of dollars into counties to help them retain teachers and staff.
Wayne County Schools Superintendent Todd Alexander is expecting $1.3 million lost revenue this coming year after an enrollment drop of 215 students.
“We have to adjust our number of positions to be able to keep our finances in line,” Alexander said. “We’ll be looking at approximately 30 professional positions and approximately 40 service positions.”
“You continue to have to do more with less,” he continued. “What will happen is that class sizes will increase.”
Del. Joe Ellington, R-Mercer, has proposed a major change to the state’s school funding formula that would give more funding for special education services on a tiered system. (Photo by Perry Bennett/West Virginia Legislative Photography)
House’s funding formula changes pushed back three years
Counties are also serving a growing population of special education students. Required services for special education students — like one-on-one aids and nurses — have impacted schools’ budgets.
The school funding formula is a seven-step formula that determines how much state funding goes to county school systems based on factors including the number of students enrolled. West Virginia’s current formula doesn’t take into account most special education services or students in poverty who likely need more school resources.
Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason
A trio of bills from Senate Education Chair Amy Grady, a public school teacher, would cost around $144 million after making adjustments to the school funding formula’s teacher-to-students ratios and allocating more money for special education services.
Her bills were held in Senate Finance, missing the deadline to move legislation out of committee to the full Senate for a vote.
“What I’m tired of is that the school aid formula is the number one thing on our list, and then we don’t do anything about it. I get really frustrated with that,” said Grady, R-Mason. “I’m all for a tax cut for people. I really am. But in the grand scheme of things, our schools really need the help, and so I hope that something will pass.”
‘I’m still holding out hope,” she added.
While those bills sat in the Senate Finance Committee, Senators overwhelmingly approved $300 million dollars for the Hope Scholarship as the school voucher program opens up to all West Virginia students for the first time next year.
On Friday, the House Finance Committee approved a measure by Del. Joe Ellington, R-Mercer, that makes significant changes to the current school funding formula. It includes a set funding amount per student and increased special education money on a tiered system.
I’m all for a tax cut for people. I really am. But in the grand scheme of things, our schools really need the help, and so I hope that something will pass.
– Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason
It has an implementation date in three years, meaning it won’t offer the funding changes to schools in the coming year. He’d originally proposed $214 million for schools this year through formula revisions, but the price tag was a hang up.
Ellington said the idea with the current bill is “to be as fair as possible.” The timeline will give counties time to prepare for changes.
“Most people seem to agree that there are problems with the current system, the inequities that it creates, and we’re trying to correct that and make it simpler for people to understand,” he said.
West Virginia Schools Superintendent Michele Blatt spoke to members of the House Finance Committee in January about the need for increased funding for special education. (Photo by Perry Bennett/West Virginia Legislative Photography)
Report told lawmakers to change funding formula, increase special education money
Ahead of the legislative session, House leadership commissioned and paid for a report from the RAND corporation to examine how to best fund West Virginia public schools.
The analysts recommended changing the formula to direct more funds to children who need more resources, like low-income or special education students.
At the start of session, State Schools Superintendent Michele Blatt asked lawmakers to prioritize giving counties more resources for special education students.
“We are probably getting about half of what it costs to educate those students,” she said.
In Wayne County, Alexander said they’re spending around $6 million in local funds to cover the costs of special education services that the school funding formula doesn’t account for.
“While our overall population is decreasing, our special ed population and those needs are increasing, so it really makes it difficult,” Alexander said.
Grady noted that the Senate had a bill to take care of special education funding, “but it’s not going to pass.”
“If nothing gets through, I’m really going to push really hard for us to have a specified interim committee just for school formula that I would like to head up so that we work on something and have something in hand before session,” she said.
Negotiations on the budget bill continue between the House and Senate as the final day of the legislative session, March 14, approaches.
Lawmakers have passed a bill giving $8 million to Hancock County Schools to ensure they could pay teachers and staff due to their financial situation. State school officials say the county is under investigation for financial malfeasance after operating with jobs beyond their funding formula allocation and spending $1 million on a turf project. The measure awaits the governor’s signature.
